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Cedarburg
Writes organizers John Katzka, Rita Bert (seated), Mary
Marquardt (left) and Philia Hayes (right).
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There’s a right way to write, and a
new Friends of the Cedarburg Library program aims to help budding
authors hone their skills. It’s called Cedarburg Writes, and it’s
a collaboration among the Friends, the Cedarburg Artists Guild and the
Cedarburg Cultural Center, says Friends President Philia Hayes.
The community writing program will
include opportunities for aspiring authors to learn from published
pros.
The three-part program kicks off March
15, when participants will meet children’s book author Barb Joosse,
children’s book author and illustrator Renee Graef, novelist and
journalist Mike Nichols and fiction writer Terry Coffman. "Many
of us have already contacted authors who are willing to attend the
kickoff of this yearlong event," Hayes says. "Those are the
definite yeses on the panel."
The free kickoff at the Cedarburg
Cultural Center will include a panel discussion by the authors and a
question-and-answer session about writing styles. "Each one will
have a bit of time in the beginning where they’ll talk about their
particular type of writing," Hayes says.
The evening will conclude with a book
signing, and time for participants to talk one-on-one with the
authors. Then from April 5 through May, a free Tuesday evening series
of themed literary roundtables will be held at the library, Hayes
says. "These same authors, plus some additional authors, would
attend the roundtable that fits their type of writing," she says.
"We were talking about one on editing. We were talking about one
on submissions."
Cedarburg Writes will conclude in fall
with four- to six-week workshops at the center, with published authors
who are also teachers leading the instruction. A nominal fee will be
charged to cover instructors’ honorariums. "We have a couple of
people who have already agreed to run a workshop," says Hayes.
"The workshops, again, will specialize in specific types of
writing."
The program will conclude in 2006 with
an anthology of work from Cedarburg Writes participants, with
yet-to-be applied-for grants covering publishing costs. "That’s
the yearlong, quite ambitious program," Hayes says.
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